Supporting English Language Learners

When you hear the term English Language Learner, you might think of international students who’ve grown up in countries where English isn’t a primary language. But many other English Language Learners (ELLs) have grown up in the U.S. in multilingual families. In Colorado, 16% of families speak a language other than English at home. Value

Break It Down: A Quick Prep Method for In-Class Workshops

Our category 20 Minutes to Class Time shares ideas you can put together with little prep for effective in-person teaching. Today’s post focuses on a fast method for breaking down and modeling reading, learning, or writing strategies for in-class practice. I often hit the same point every semester: realizing my students know how to do

Engaging Students in Collaborative Grammar Play

Our students tend to associate one word with grammar: rules. Grammar rules can seem endless, arbitrary, confusing. But after gaining more practice teaching grammar this semester, I’ve come to associate grammar with a different word: play. Through my colleague Kathleen Johnson’s guidance, I’ve learned that the best way to engage students in learning how English

Springtime Lemonade and…an Octopus and Boundaries

This week’s post concludes our Springtime Lemonade series for 2024. If you’ve missed the past few weeks, check out Tracy’s reflections on walking and play with puzzles and my thoughts on mindfulness practice with students. I want to tell you a story about an octopus. When I was preparing to step away from an administrative

Springtime Lemonade and…Practicing Mindfulness with Students

Tracy’s post on the benefits of walking began our Springtime Lemonade series for 2024. In today’s post, I continue our focus on catching our collective breath at the end of the semester by sharing my experiences of mindfulness practice with my students. Take a moment to relax with me. First, clench your toes. Take a

That Time I Lost My Cool in Class (Well, Just a Little)

One of my classes this semester is small—almost too small. It’s a teaching-focused course, but only a few people in the room want to be teachers. I few (I’m flattered!) signed up because they’ve enjoyed past courses I’ve taught. A few others had no choice—they just needed a class for credit. Among ten students total,

Using Case Studies to Make Abstract Concepts Come Alive

“On the first day of class, Professor Hansen goes around the room and asks every person to share one thing they want to learn as a writer this semester. Students share things like ‘to be able to write more’ and ‘to get better at research.’ When it’s Harun’s turn, he says he wants ‘to know

We’re taking a break this week!

We’re in conference mode! Two Profs from Ohio just attended the Conference on Writing and Well-Being, hosted by Susan Miller Cochran and Stacey Cochran at the University of Arizona. We’re taking a week off to reflect on what we’ve learned, and we’ll be back next week to share some takeaways from the conference.

Expanding Think, Pair, Share: Sparking Ideas for Class Discussion

I recently chatted with colleagues about how difficult it is to facilitate class discussion evenly across a group. We might ask the class a question and find some hands shoot in the air, or some students shout out ideas immediately. Others need time to think, while still others may be more introverted and reluctant to

PLC Woes and Small Steps Toward Agency

At the start of the year, we asked you to share your teaching needs, interests, and challenges. We heard from one reader that Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) create a loss of teacher autonomy in K-12 education. This reader shares that “the push for common texts, assignments, and assessments” can leave teachers feeling like the “district